Ripple has significantly expanded its institutional trading ambitions through its prime brokerage arm, Ripple Prime, unveiling real-world asset swaps and perpetual futures tied to more than 100 reference markets. The announcement, highlighted by Ripple and reported by Bloomberg, positions the company to tap into the fast-growing tokenized RWA derivatives market.
According to Ripple, the new service allows institutional clients to trade and settle continuously, with centralized risk management and single counterparty relationships. That structure is designed to improve liquidity, simplify operations, and give professional traders a more reliable venue for managing exposure across equities, stock indexes, exchange-traded funds, commodities, and other traditional assets.
The rollout is being facilitated through Trade.xyz, a major trading platform for perpetual contracts on traditional assets built on the decentralized Hyperliquid platform. Ripple had already launched crypto perpetual futures in February through Ripple Prime as part of a broader push to offer full trading solutions for institutions.
Bloomberg data cited in the report shows explosive growth in perpetual contracts on real-world assets, with open interest across several platforms climbing from near zero to roughly $9 billion over the past year. Unlike traditional futures, perpetual contracts do not expire, enabling users to hold leveraged positions without rolling them over.
Michael Higgins, international CEO of Ripple Prime, said the new cross-margining feature lets investors use the same collateral across different positions rather than requiring separate margin for each trade. This, he explained, should help institutions manage capital more efficiently and access new liquidity pools. Higgins also emphasized that the offering provides exposure on "more regulated" infrastructure, an important factor for hedge funds and professional market makers.
Institutional interest is broadening beyond simple directional bets. Some investors are exploring basis trades that pair perp positions with their underlying assets to capture price discrepancies while reducing overall market exposure. Higgins added that traditional hedge funds are now on the verge of gaining direct access to tokenized real-world assets.
While the XRP price reaction remains uncertain, the move underscores Ripple's accelerating push into Wall Street-style prime services and could strengthen institutional confidence in digital asset markets.
